


always something

by WhiteJackal



Series: they were something [1]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), Disney - All Media Types, The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 04:12:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11661381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteJackal/pseuds/WhiteJackal
Summary: they weren't friends, and they weren't enemies. but jay and mal were always something.





	always something

**Author's Note:**

> "but jay was hers: he was her pack. they weren’t friends—villains didn’t have friends; they had minions or enemies or maybe sometimes temporary partners—but they were something. and they were enough to make mal feel that surge of protective sparking: that drive and instinct to protect what was hers." 
> 
> OR, explorations of the rotten core.

He was always _hungry_.

Even when they were little kids, Mal noticed. She’d see the way his dark eyes would follow even the grossest of slop and most rotten of fruits, how he’d swallow thickly when the other kids—the lucky ones, the ones whose parents had remembered their kids’ lunches, or had at least remembered to send them the money for picking up food themselves—pulled out their mid-day meals at school, barely hiding the longing, lean look with shining smiles and twitching, sticky fingers.

 _Pitying the weak makes you weak_ , Maleficent would say. _Looking after others instead of just taking care of yourself isn’t evil—it’s the opposite, and “the opposite” is never tolerated on the Isle of the Lost._

But Jay was _hers_ : he was her pack. They weren’t friends—villains didn’t have friends; they had minions or enemies or maybe sometimes temporary partners—but they were _something_. And they were enough to make Mal feel that surge of protective sparking: that drive and instinct to protect what was hers.

So she started making stealing from her easy. He was who he was, and he was what Jafar had made him to be, so it hadn’t ever been impossible to steal from the daughter of Maleficent; but it had certainly been trickier than swiping trinkets and baubles from the simpletons and lesser evils on the Isle. She knew she couldn’t _give_ him the food, so she’d let him do what he did best: take it without asking.

As time went on, she’d toss him snacks— _full meals_ for him, in his house of bare cupboards and empty pockets and hoarded money that was never meant for him—she said she didn’t want to finish, or that she claimed she didn’t like. She’d pair the gifts with a nasty comment or two about “that swill” not being fit for someone like her to eat ( _“You, on the other hand…”_ ), and he’d take them with a cocky grin or a nonchalant shrug. And they’d both ignore how ravenously he’d devour the food.

The deceptive subterfuge sated Mal’s concern that she was, in fact, being nice and compassionate and _protective_ towards someone, even someone that was _hers_ ; and it fooled Jay into taking the charity and saving his pride.

At least, that was what the two of them _didn’t say_ , sitting in companionable silence and knowing the other enough to know that they were understood—and that the lessons and pride and tenets of their world and parents didn’t matter when they were together.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm not sure if i'll make this part of a series, but this was sure fun to write! i finally got to watch "descendants 2" tonight, and it got me hella inspired! i love how they're finally emphasizing the special nature of mal and jay's friendship in the movies. it's beautiful, and i loved it all.


End file.
